Soft Inside
by niciodata
Summary: Natalie is the woman who can handle any weapon, but she's also the one who lived in the big city. How does Daryl compare to her? He's the back woods guy who cuts off his sleeves and isn't accustomed to city people, how could they possibly fall in love?


_Hello! Welcome to my first TWD fanfiction, I hope that this chapter is long enough? I was kind of worried it might be too short, but I'd love to know whether I should have longer chapters or shorter. :) I really want feedback in general though! _

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><p>I could hear the groaning and hissing of the undead that drag their retched feet along the asphalt as they passed me for now. My breathing was heavy and labored, my pain increasing with every breath. I had been shot and my attackers were no where to be seen, but that doesn't mean they won't find me. If they don't find me and kill me, one of the undead probably will since my bleeding is becoming almost uncontrollable at this point. But I can't give up.<p>

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><p>Ever since the world had gone to shit and I went out on my own, I had been scavenging whatever I could that might be useful whether it be now or in the future. I had a few gallons of gasoline stock piled along with plenty of canned goods and ammunition. Only two months back had I found a small house that I quickly cleared and created base camp in the basement. Knowing that my supplies were too heavy to carry efficiently and quickly everywhere, I chose to stay put and survive.<p>

All was going good, considering how the world has become, until I ran into a group of guys who had stumbled across my camp and were ransacking the house. I armed myself and stayed quiet in the basement, hoping they wouldn't come down because of my boarding up of the indoor trapdoor, but alas they felt it would be best to check there too. One of the smaller ones made their way down and began rummaging through my supplies until I quietly took him out. Grabbing as much as I could and as quickly as I could, I made my way out of the basement and attempted to make a run for it.

My bad luck continued when a guy caught sight of me and called out to the others of my presence. They were all heavily armed but, I still took my chances and shot at them. I hit most of them, but one got a bullet lodged in my shoulder and I dropped my aimed before turning to run. The man continued and followed me, getting another shot to my thigh, but soon I had outrun him although in an extreme amount of pain.

At this point I had made it to a highway, I had not come across this area yet because I found the house from coming up from the south part of the forest. My whole body was protesting the position I had to be in to stay out of the sight of the few lingering undead. My mind was racing now that I had caught up with everything. Most of my supplies are now lost, my shelter is gone, I'm still alone and now I'm going to bleed to death or attract so many undead that I will just be torn apart slowly.

Suddenly there was the sound of three gunshots, which made my heart stop in fear that my attacker had found me, but then there were voices, one was female. My heart caught back up and my body shook from my blood loss as I tried to contemplate whether I should show myself or hide in fear they might kill me. I finally decided to show myself because if they wanted to kill me, I was going to die anyways and they would do it fast.

Every nerve in my body screamed at me as I pulled my rucksack and rifle onto my shoulder and began to open the truck door to allow myself out. As soon as I tried to stand up and get out of the vehicle, my legs gave out from the pain and exhaustion and I crumbled to the ground. The sound of my body and my supplies hitting the ground must have alerted the two people who I had heard because the last thing I saw before blacking out was a woman with grey hair and a man with a white beard.

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><p>I awoke to the feeling of soft bed and the pain of my wounds being tended to, quite a contradiction of feelings. My eyes opened slowly, but my sight was hazy and colors were all blurred together. I let them droop closed again until they shot open and I let out a pained gasp as something had torn into the muscle of his shoulder.<p>

"Maggie hold her down!" A man quickly snapped and a woman with short brown hair came around the bed and held my body down. "I'm almost done."

I finally opened my eyes completely and looked around quickly before catching the gaze of the girl holding me down. She looked young, like she was in her early twenties and no older. It was quite nice to see someone who looks like they would be a friend.

"He's almost done, don't worry. Try not to think about it, I'm sorry we don't have any painkillers right now." She looked so worried, but was trying her best to keep calm and also keep me from jerking up and screwing up the man working on getting my second bullet out. "I'm Maggie, what about you?"

"N-natalia..." I hardly got my name out before the man tore out another piece of the bullet and my body quickly reacted to the pain.

"The bullet in your thigh went right through, didn't hit any arteries, but the one in your shoulder broke apart. Let me stitch you up and then you'll be good again." He threw his bloody tools to the side and wiped off his hands before starting to stitch the wound. "Natalia, I'm Hershel and you're at my farm. That there is Maggie, my daughter." He said, motioning to her who was now cleaning up her father's tools. She gave a quick smile before leaving the room. Before she could say anything, Hershel started to stitch her up and sighed.

"I know having you cuffed doesn't make us seem like we're very hospitable, but it was all in precaution. Rick-" He indicated to the man standing in the doorway. "-felt that since we don't know who you are, we wanted to be safe." The man who I had just found out was Rick, stepped forward as Hershel had finished with the wound and a woman quickly followed behind him.

"Don't go out and do anything stupid, and with that being said, in a little while you can come back and I'll take those out. The bandages should be changed everyday though." Hershel told me before collecting his tools and standing up.

"Thank you, for everything." I told him quickly before he left and he gave me a curt nod in response. I moved my gaze over to Rick who was standing there with a woman who seemed oddly familiar to me in some way, but I couldn't figure it out.

"I'm so glad that Hershel patched you all up, we were really worried when we saw you fall from that truck. Thank god we didn't shoot you, I mistook you for a walker at first." The woman seemed to have a relieved composure to her and she seemed like the motherly type. I smiled at her and felt something run through my body, I couldn't figure out it was, but it was a feeling that I haven't felt for a long while.

"You brought me here? Thank you, I kind of remember hearing voices and decided that if you would kill me, at least it would be better than a death by those undead." I shuddered at the thought. "I'm sorry I never got your name?"

"Carol." She told me smiling at me before looking back up to Rick who had put a hand on her shoulder. "We have a camp here and we could take you in, but we need to know who you are first. We need to be safe." Rick stated as Carol left the room.

"I get that, but could we at least un-cuff me?" I asked, the cuff kept me lying down, and I wanted to sit up at least if we were going to talk. Rick nodded and pulled the key out from his back pocket, quickly releasing the restraint and allowing me to move freely. I sat up, quickly at first, but my body protested and I became careful of my movements.

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><p>It was decided that I would be able to stay, as my skills would be helpful for the group, their only request was I pull my weight in chores and I felt it would be a fair trade. I had no tent or any of my supplies, so I had convinced Rick to allow me to go back to my camp and see what was left from the men, but I would not be able to go alone. He told me that Daryl would go with me.<p>

Being that I've only been at the camp for a night and the fact that Daryl is rather unsocial, I hardly have spoken a single word to him since I arrived. I probably wouldn't have even known who he was if I hadn't ran right into him when bringing him his washed clothing. He had just muttered a short 'Thank you.' and continued on.

"Natalie!" My head spun to the direction of Rick yelling my name and I waved to indicate that I was coming over. I made sure my fresh bandages seemed like they were going to stay on and I grabbed my hatchet then quickly made my way to Rick and Daryl.

"Natalie, Daryl is going to come with you to your camp and will get you back here in one piece, but he's also going to be surveying for Sophia. So, if either of you happen to find something, follow it because you can always go back for your things later." I nodded and looked to Daryl who seemed just as annoyed as when I met him yesterday, but there was something about him that I hadn't noticed before. He seemed not as intimidating and less like the redneck stereotype than I had first believed, he was quite handsome to say the least.

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><p><em>How was it? I hope that you'll continue to follow the story and find out how the trip into the woods goes and how their relationship builds! I'll be updating frequently and thank you for reading! :) <em>


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